In a message dated Mon, 26 Feb 2001 7:30:19 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
<< I am beginning to wonder about this list and its powers of comprehension. :-)
None of the answers put forth have begun to address the question.
The mile is 4 laps, so is 1600, how did we get to 1500? And I also believe a mile is
1609 m, so where is the 1500 from.>>
I can't lay my hands on a definitive source at this instant, but it has always been my
understanding that the event was invented by the French, and the distance made perfect
sense on 500m tracks. (One of which was used for the 1900 Olympics in Paris) 3 laps.
gh
ps--let's just be glad they didn't use the track from the first Olympics, in 1896 as
the template: we'd be running multiples of 333.33 meters!
